CHAPTER 2: POWER

Private Room - 8 hours after revival

Creator asked, “Did you see the report?”

Unknown Speaker replied, “Yeah, I was surprised he saw The Amender in his dead state. Thought he would see you or—”

Creator said, “It wasn’t the piece of shit we call Amender that he saw; it was someone else.”

Unknown Speaker responded, “You are so mean. How could you call him that?”

Creator explained, “I felt it.”

Unknown Speaker inquired, “What do you mean?”

Creator continued, “I felt something scary; that’s why I rushed to the lab. I still get chills.”

Unknown Speaker remained silent.

Creator added, “He even heard that person… No, that person spoke to him using the Voice.”

Unknown Speaker asked, “What do you think of it?”

Creator replied, “I think… we might lose the Amender soon.”

Unknown Speaker suggested, “Then we should kill him before we lose his powers.”

Unknown Speaker reminded, “We can’t afford to lose what we made. And aren’t you supposed to be showing your chief some respect?”

Creator remained silent.

With anger, Creator said, “Yes, sir.”

Chief chuckled, “Hehe, why the angry look? Should we consider finding a new host for your powers?”

Creator answered, “No, sir.”

Knocking on the door and then opening it, Private said, “Excuse me sir, the Commander wants you to report to him.”

Chief replied, “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Private insisted, “The commander says it’s important and that you be there now.”

Chief sighed as irritation crept into his voice. He said in a rude tone, “Fine.”

{The door opens}

Chief announced, “Sir, War Chief Ren Knud reporting.”

Commander responded, “Chief Dunn.”

Pointing at another person, Commander continued, “This is Commander Fredric Zachry.”

Chief asked, “Ah… what?”

Commander explained, “I’ve been transferred to a different base, so he’s going to be your commanding officer.”

Chief saluted and said, “War Chief Ren Knud sir.”

Commander Fredric Zachry shook hands with him.

Commander said, “I’ll be taking my leave now.”

Commander Fredric Zachry requested, “Brief me about the powers project.”

Chief replied, “Yes sir. Project Eclipse was started 200 years ago in this facility. The main goal was to create superhuman powers. We successfully created two superhuman powers called Creator’s powers and Amender’s powers. The wielders are called Creators and Amenders. The wielders can live longer than a normal human without aging; different wielders tend to show different lifespans. So far we’ve had 2 Creators and 7 Amenders. The Amenders always tend to die soon. The longest lifespan of an Amender so far is 85 years which was only 25 years after receiving the powers; the shortest is 3 years after receiving powers. The longest lifespan for a Creator is 85 years since getting the powers. The current Amender is 17 years after receiving powers and the Creator is 51 years after receiving powers.”

Commander Fredric Zachry asked, “How do you transfer the powers to new hosts?”

Chief explained, “We did not exactly transfer sir. We let the power choose by giving it options. We cannot transfer powers by any means other than making the power choose its next wielder. The wielder will know when he’s reaching the end of his term. During that time we find a new host and train them with the power.”

Commander Fredric Zachry questioned, “How do you train them when you can’t transfer them?”

Chief answered, “The wielder cannot transfer powers but can temporarily give a part of it to someone else; this way we train the new host and also let the power choose the host among those we have prepared. Resonance between the current bearer of power and the hosts is essential—a resonance that strengthens with their shared presence, facilitating the transfer of power. Like the name says Creator has the power to create anything and Amender has the power to change anything. We are using them more like a weapons factory than actual fighters. We are still working on powers that can be used to fight wars. Creating or changing lifeforms hasn’t been possible yet but once it’s achieved by the powers we will have unlimited manpower.”

Commander Fredric Zachry asked again, “None of the wielders rebelled against us? Superhuman power is no joke.”

Chief explained further: “The wielders serve merely as vessels for the powers. The powers seem to possess self-awareness, dictating events according to their own desires—sometimes diverging from the wishes of their wielders. If the wielders try to use the powers against us, the power seems to fight back and stop them. Sometimes other powers tend to fight rogue wielders to stop them; many of the Amenders died this way. So we keep the hosts ready just in case.”

Commander Fredric Zachry acknowledged “I see…”

Chief continued “The latest development has caused some of us to worry about the powers dropping out of our hands.”

Commander Fredric Zachry asked again “And what are those developments?”

Chief explained “In an experiment regarding bringing the dead back to life, a dead person was brought back to life. The subject saw one of the power wielders—the Amender—before he came back to life.”

Commander Fredric Zachry questioned again “Does it never happen?”

Chief replied “That wouldn’t be a problem if the person he saw as Amender was our current one; he saw a different one.”

Commander Fredric Zachry asked curiously “How does he know that? I thought these powers were kept a secret from the public.”

Chief clarified “The Amender was present when he woke up so he was asked if he saw the person standing here and he said he saw a different person—though he did not see his face but only his eyes glowing red and blue like a typical Amender’s eyes we’ve seen so far. We fear that the power has found a new host or that it has been hijacked by someone else. What’s more is that Creator felt something ominous when the subject came back to life.”

Commander Fredric Zachry pressed “What’s the problem in that? Don’t you have new hosts ready? Isn’t the next wielder one of them?”

Chief responded “It doesn’t seem like it. Neither did Amender feel his term come to an end nor did any of the other hosts feel anything different.”

Commander Fredric Zachry suggested “Why not put both powers in the same host then?”

Chief replied “We tried it sir; that isn’t possible either. The Amender’s power rejects the Creator’s power.”

Commander Fredric Zachry urged “So what do you plan on doing??”

Chief stated firmly “Kill the Amender before the power transfer takes place. We’ll lose one of our powers but it’s at least better than not having it at all. We don’t know whom the power might transfer to yet; if it’s going to go to an enemy nation it’s going to get worse.”

Commander Fredric Zachry questioned “Are you sure the power won’t transfer after you kill the Amender?”

Chief admitted “No sir; we don’t know that.”

Commander Fredric Zachry warned “What if the power rebels this time instead of its wielder?”

Chief reassured him “We’ll be using Creator to suppress Amender’s powers, sir.”

Commander Fredric Zachry asked skeptically “What if Creator rebels?”

Chief confidently replied “She won’t sir.”

Commander Fredric Zachry pondered Hmm…

Chief added “Her power has been consistent and always protected us like a guardian when other hosts went berserk.”

Commander Fredric Zachry ordered “Alright then go ahead with the plan. But let’s prepare for all possible outcomes beforehand.”

Chief responded “Yes si-…”

{Alarms blaring as footsteps approach} {The door opens}

Private exclaimed “Sir! The Amender is dead.”